


I'll Be There For You

by urcool91



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Humor, MJN Air Is A Family, Shorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-03
Updated: 2014-05-15
Packaged: 2018-01-03 09:53:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1069068
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/urcool91/pseuds/urcool91
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I'll be there for you<br/>When the rain starts to pour<br/>I'll be there for you<br/>Like I've been there before<br/>I'll be there for you<br/>'Cause you're there for me too<br/>-- I'll Be There For You by The Rembrandts (aka the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. theme song)</p><p>Or: MJN Air is a family. You have to be willing to help out your family when they need it.</p><p>One chapter for each character and an epilogue to wrap things up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Carolyn

**Author's Note:**

> This was basically me listening to the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. theme song and it reminding me of MJN Air. I can't promise that I'll update regularly, but I'll try to do it at least once a week. We'll see how that plan pans out.

Carolyn Knapp-Shappey wasn't one to make friends easily.

For one thing, she had a horrible habit of speaking her mind very bluntly that didn't exactly make it easy for her to make friends. She was downright rude at times, unashamedly independant, terrifically stubborn, and completely unable to make allowances for anyone. Well, anyone but her son, and that was only because he was a clot. So it was really no surprise that she was surprised to find that she had begun to care about her crew.

Was caring about them friendship? She didn't quite know. But even if it wasn't she wouldn't let them know.

She didn't quite know when she started to realize that she was becomeing, if not friends, than at least _more friendly_ with them. Maybe it was when she noticed that the pilots always let Arthur in on their word games. Maybe it was when she began to argue with Douglas for the sake of it and not because she had any humongous beef with him and Martin. Maybe it was when she realized that she hadn't made a muck of running the company.

Maybe it was when she thought that she had.

It was really just another day, she realized that later, but at the time it had seemed to be the only thing to do. They were more in the red than ever before, and she honestly couldn't see a way out. Of course, she usually couldn't see a way out of whatever situation they had gotten themselves into, but this time she had forgotten about how they constantly managed to survive, so she had clapped her hands and made the announcement. She was officially declaring MJN Air as bankrupt.

"What? No!" said Arthur. Martin looked like he very much wanted to say the same thing but found it below his dignity as a captain.

"There's simply nothing to be done. We are in the red more than ever." Carolyn sighed. "I know that this is disappointing for you all, but there's really nothing to be done. I'll give you and Douglas glowing letters of recommendation, Martin, but I really can't-"

"Carolyn, I think that you may be forgetting something," said Douglas, voice miraculously free of snark.

"I am forgetting nothing," said Carolyn. "There's simply nothing to be done."

"No, Carolyn, you have forgotten something," said Douglas. "You have forgotten that I... am... magic."

"So, what, you can just magic up a thousand pounds out of thin air?" said Carolyn. 

"A thousand is a bit of a tall order," said Douglas musingly. "Would nine hundred fifty do the trick?" Carolyn looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Douglas!" said Carolyn.

"Wow!" said Arthur. "That's really brilliant! Where'd you get the money?"

"Let's just say that a cheese sandwich can go a long way," said Douglas crypically. Martin rolled his eyes.

"He means that he's been smuggling," he said. Douglas looked at Carolyn with innocent little puppy-dog eyes. Carolyn was not fooled.

"Good Lord," she said. "How long has this been going on, Douglas?" Douglas shrugged.

"Does it matter?" he said. "I'm going to sell the very valuable letter openers in the hold to a friend of mine for about nine hundred fifty pounds, MJN will be saved, and you won't have to settle for being a little old lady." Carolyn scowled at him, but inside she was so grateful that she could have kissed him.

"Well, I suppose we'll have to do it," she said. "But no more smuggling, Douglas. That's an order. I don't want to do anything horrendously illegal."

"As the alpha dog commands," said Douglas with a smirk.


	2. Douglas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Douglas gets in over his head. Martin, Carolyn, and Arthur help him out of the pool.

If there was one thing that Douglas Richardson hated it was swimming pools.

It wasn't that he couldn't swim. It was just that... well, he wasn't a very strong swimmer. And, as much as it pained him to admit it, he wasn't going to get any better. After all, two close shaves with drowning were quite enough for him. He could live through jumping into freezing cold pools if it meant that he kept his job, but other than that nothing could convince him to go into water more than three feet deep for fun.

Then Arthur dropped his Toblerone into the pool at the bloody awful hotel they were staying at.

Oh dear.

So of course Arthur begged him to get it back. And of course Douglas had to say yes. Really, who could say no with  _that_ man-child shouting frantically in his ear? And, of course, if Martin tried he'd probably end up drowning and Douglas would have to drag him out which would be far more difficult that simply rescuing the Toblerone. Douglas sighed. He should have known that eventually he'd have to do something like this.

It was better to do these things quickly than slowly going in and acclimating himself, so he jumped into the deep end, trying to aim for the approximate place where the Toblerone had sunk. He didn't try to swim; he just let himself sink to the bottom. He opened his eyes and looked around and, despite the sting of chlorine, was soon able to spy the dull yellow triangular prism that was Arthur's Toblerone. He reached out and snatched it from the bottom. It was only when he began to swim upwards that he realized his problem.

He was still fully clothed. And Douglas Richardson was not a strong swimmer.

Still, how hard could it be? He flapped his arms back and forth, trying desperately to get to the surface before he ran out of oxygen. One of his hands hit the side of the pool, and he turned to it, trying to claw his way to the surface. He was panicking, he knew, and that was only using up his oxygen quicker, but it is hard to calm down when you're underwater and drowning.

Then all of a sudden he wasn't.

A hand wrapped around his wrist and he held on for dear life. In a few minutes he was out of the water and taking deep breaths of beautiful, _beautiful_ air.

"I have the Toblerone," he gasped, holding it up in the air triumphantly.

"Yay!" said Arthur. Douglas looked up. Carolyn, Arthur, and Martin were all wet, Martin the most so. Douglas felt himself turn red.

"Um," he said. Martin laughed.

"Don't worry about it," he said. "I still owe you for Ipswitch, after all." 


	3. Martin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martin should have never forgotten that he had three perfect wingme- people.

Martin should have known that something like this would happen eventually. It was just another product of his predictably rotten luck. Of course, this was a bit much, even for him. It had all started the day before when he had broken his arm. Hospitals don't come cheap, even when you opt out of a recommended one-night stay. Today he was on the only van job he had booked all month- or at least he had been before his van had completely died in the middle of nowhere. And it was raining.

Martin laid his head on the steering wheel of his now useless van. What on earth was he going to do now? He threw his head back over the top of the seat, blinking too fast. Tear-tracks will make it obvious to... Who? Who's going to see him like this? Nobody, that's who. Nobody's going to help him out of this. He didn't even have his mobile with him, and even if he did he didn't know who he would call. The only numbers he had in his phone were his mum's, Carolyn's, Arthur's, and Douglas's, and there was no one who he'd want to see him in this state.

"Martin?" Martin didn't turn his head toward the open window. He'd know that sarcastic drawl anywhere. "Martin, why are you sitting here crying?"

"I'm not crying," Martin said, cringing at the whinging in his voice.

"Yes, you are." Douglas paused. "Why are you sitting in your van at the side of a road?"

"Because my van broke," said Martin, "and I am in the middle of fucking nowhere, and I am going to stay in the middle of fucking nowhere unless I can somehow get my van to start. Which I can't."

"Oh. That is a bit of a problem, isn't it?"

"You're telling me." Martin looked over at Douglas. The older man seemed deep in thought.

"Do you need a ride home?" he said.

"No, I'm just going to stay on the side of the road until the end of time. Of course I need a ride home!" Douglas raised an eyebrow and Martin blushed. "Sorry. That was ungrateful."

"Oh, no, it's perfectly understandable." Martin sighed.

"What on earth am I going to do? My van's dead, so I can't make any money and that means that at the end of the month I'll get kicked out of my attic-"

"You won't do any good working yourself up. A good first step might be to get into my car." As Martin did so, Douglas took out his phone and sent a text.

_Carolyn, Martin's van broke down. Figure something out._

His phone dinged.

_Done. Do you have him?_

_Yes._

_Bring him to our house. Arthur will be delighted._


	4. Arthur

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arthur finds the limits of his cheeriness. Douglas teaches Martin to make balloon animals.

It wasn't that it wasn't a perfectly brilliant day. It was, of course it was. Arthur had yet to come across a day that wasn't completely brilliant. But it  _was_ one of the rare yet all-too-common days where Arthur didn't feel brilliant.

Douglas was the first to notice. He teased him a bit, of course, but this was a brilliant-but-doesn't-feel-like-it day. Arthur knew that it was just Douglas being his own brilliant self, but he wasn't in the mood to have his friend poke fun at him.

So he might have yelled a little. And then hid himself in GERTI's loo.

It was quiet for a bit, which suited Arthur's mood just fine, but after a while there was low talking and huffing and, once, a very loud pop. Arthur was, admittedly, curious,  but his curiosity was outweighed by self-preservation.  He knew that he wasn't cut out for more of Douglas's teasing.

Only five minutes later there was a tentative knock on the loo door.

"Arthur?" said the voice of Douglas. "Arthur,  I have something I want to show you."

"What is it?" said Arthur. 

"It's a surprise." Skip sounded excited,  at least, which was usually a good sign. "Come out of the loo and see it." Arthur tentatively pushed open the loo door to see Douglas and Skip standing there, Skip sporting a grin that threatened to split his face clean in half.

"Behold," said Douglas. "My masterpiece." And Douglas brought from behind his back a BALLOON ANIMAL!!!

"OH MY GOD DOUGLAS THAT IS BRILLIANT!!!" Douglas blinked, looking a bit bemused. 

"It is, isn't it?" he said. "Of course,  I can't take all the credit. It was Martin's idea in the first place.  He couldn't make them, but luckily he happens to know a dashing pilot with a knack for these sorts of things."

"Oh, you, of course. What... what sorts of things do you mean?"

"Oh, you know," said Douglas,  "things."


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is no limit to what you would do for your family.

For Carolyn, the realization comes when her pilots are willing to risk themselves to get GERTI away from her ex-husband.  For Douglas it's when he's jolted with the knowledge that he'd rather laugh with his colleagues than at them. For Martin it comes when he realizes that, yes, his friends would drop everything to help him if he got in a fix.

Arthur would have been able to tell you that they were a family from the beginning. 

Because the most important thing that separates friends from family is that family cannot give up on you. They may fight and become cold and say things they don't really mean, but at the end of the day they're still stuck with each other. Friends can back out and leave you. A family is forever.

So, yes, MJN Air is a family, because none of them can abandon the rest. All their jobs depend on it. And that is why the members of this insignificant air-dot are truly friends, despite all their differences. And they wouldn't have it any other way. 


End file.
